Cultural space to be built on Saint-Laurent metro

One of the more inexplicable vacant lots in town has been always been the one surrounding Saint-Laurent metro, at the corner of the Main and de Maisonneuve. You’d think that, being right on top of the metro and in such a central location, it would have been developed a long time ago. Well, that’s finally about to happen: forty years after it first came into being, this patch of empty space will finally make way for a new building.

Earlier this week, the city announced that it has mandated the Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal (SHDM) to build a new structure on top of the Saint-Laurent metro entrance. The new building will house commercial and cultural space, notably for LADMMI, Montreal’s school of contemporary dance. The city has not committed to funding the new development, however, which means that the SHDM will be forced to find somebody else to pay for it.

Meanwhile, three blocks away, work is now underway on the Place des festivals, the large new plaza that is being created on the eastern half of the Balmoral Block. When it’s completed in 2009, it will provide permanent space for the area’s festivals, which will become increasingly short in supply as the many parking lots and vacant lots in the surrounding area are developed.

It seems to me that a year or two ago, it had been announced that the opera company wanted to open a hall over. Then I recall there there being talk of a Jewish community museum. Neither of these—supposing my recollection is accurate—came to fruition on this location. Anyone know if my memory serves me right, and if so, what happened to these initiatives?